Linamar Corporation And Wescast Industries Inc. Announce Strategic Alliance

21 September 1999

Linamar Corporation And Wescast Industries Inc. Announce Strategic Alliance

    BRANTFORD AND GUELPH, Ontario--Sept. 20, 1999-- Wescast Industries Inc. (TSE: WCS.A; NASDAQ: WCSTF) and Linamar Corporation (TSE - LNR) have entered into a strategic alliance agreement for the sales, design and manufacture of a focused range of iron automotive components, excluding exhaust manifolds.
    The new alliance will enhance the partners' ability to compete internationally in these components while maintaining the independence of their current, core businesses.
    "The strategic alliance is an excellent complement to the joint venture in Hungary. It brings the companies into a collaborative relationship in North America, allowing each to fully benefit from improved efficiencies and productivity. Our customers will certainly benefit from such a combination, as will our employees and investors, in turn," says Linda Hasenfratz, President of Linamar Corporation.
    "The relationship will provide Wescast with significant long-term benefits as we implement our strategies for globalization and diversification," comments Ray Finnie, Wescast President and CEO. "We have a great deal of respect for Linamar's people and their technical capabilities. We have developed a common vision for the relationship. We have also spent a lot of time understanding how to work together to the mutual benefit of our customers, investors and employees. We are confident that this strategic alliance with Linamar will be the foundation of a winning relationship for all our stakeholders."
    Linamar is a global manufacturer of precision-machined components, assemblies and castings primarily for the automotive industry. Wescast Industries Inc. is a world leader in manufacturing iron exhaust manifolds for the light vehicle and truck industry. Both companies are headquartered in southwestern Ontario.

Conference Call

    A conference call has been arranged for Tuesday, September 21, 1999 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. To participate in this call please dial 416/641-6700.

Advisory

    Certain information regarding the Companies set forth in this document, including management's assessment of the Company's future plans and operations, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities law and necessarily involve risks associated with oil and gas exploration, production, marketing, and transportation such as loss of market, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of reserves estimates, environmental risks, competition from other producers and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; as a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.